Family

We celebrated the 4th of July weekend in Soda Springs with my family this year. 

We enjoyed a small town parade (with candy!), a hot dog roast (in the garage because of the rain), cousins, and a great fireworks show from Grandpa and Grandma’s front yard. 

We even took the kids to see the World’s Only Captive Geyser…Soda Springs’ claim to fame.  You can see the kids taking a look with their cousins Tanner and Portyr. 

I hope they grow up knowing how lucky they are to live in country where they blessed with freedom and opportunities like no other.  Happy Birthday, America! continue reading...

For Father's Day, I updated Corey's 7x7 scrapbook album that he usually keeps at his office.

I included pictures to the Primary Song, "A Happy Family" with a slight change to the words:

I love Daddy, He loves Me. We love [Ian, Hyrum, Jenna, Ben, and Bethany]. They love us and so you see... We are a Happy Family!

I loved this picture taken at the park in May. I am so blessed! continue reading...

Ian was four months old on Saturday!  I know it is so cliche’ but he is growing up so fast.  I took him to his well visit this week… he weighed 15 pounds 10 ounces and is 26 inches long!  No wonder he’s growing out of his clothes.   He is also learning to roll over and all but laughing. 

He is so adorable!  I love the way he smiles just because.   I love the way he always keeps an eye on his mom.  I love the way the other kids are so concerned about him if he fusses or cries.  That’s what I have to remember when I worry that he isn’t getting enough attention.  He has become a pretty content baby that is happy as long as he can be wherever the action (and noise) is.  We love you, Ian! continue reading...

I came across a quote that describes motherhood for me.   “We don’t all love our jobs every day.  And doing something you have a passion for doesn’t make the work part of it any  easier…it just makes you less likely to quit” (The Friday Night Knitting Club p. 106). 

These five cute faces are the reason why I am glad to be a mom.  I do love each of these kids very, very much.  Almost everything I do in a day is for them.   Is it frustrating sometimes? Yes.  Is it hard work?  Yes!  Do I wish the responsibility would all go away sometimes?  Absolutely.   But when I really stop and think about it,  there is nothing else I would rather be doing right now. 

I do have a passion for my “job”…  it is a lot of work and it isn't easy…but I know that because of these five little people, quitting is not an option!  Happy Mother's Day! continue reading...

This month is Ben’s half birthday.  Dad got to take him on his date because he wanted to see the same movie that I saw with Bethany last month, but I still want to blog about what a great kid he is.

First of all you have to know that Benjamin is the oldest of five kids and he is only eight.  That means he automatically ends up with a lot of responsibility and pretty high expectations from Mom and Dad.  The amazing thing is that he really rises to those expectations in wonderful ways. 

First of all, he is very good student.  He really excels in Math and reading.  He loves to learn and is very good at memorizing facts about things that interest him.  continue reading...

Friday was a good day.  I have to blog about it because it was one of those day when almost everything went right.   The kids were happy, they played well together and kept each other entertained (without TV), and I got a lot done.  Laundry was caught up (for the night anyway), I made progress on getting the house in order (again), and I still had time to make Ian’s Easter basket.   When it was finished, I placed it on the fireplace with the other kids’ baskets in preparation for the Easter Bunny.  It didn’t take long for the kids to realize Ian’s basket didn’t have any plastic eggs in his.  Bethany, Hyrum, and Jenna each quickly put some eggs from each of their baskets into his.  His ended up with the most.  I thought that was so sweet. As a mom, one of my greatest desires is to teach my kids to love and serve each other.  Perhaps I’m doing something right. continue reading...

Ian was blessed in church yesterday.  Corey gave him a wonderful blessing that mentioned his namesake Gideon from the Book of Mormon.  He also blessed him to be strong so that he could overcome the challenges in the world today.  

A few months ago Corey and I attended a Stake Conference meeting where Elder Clark spoke.  He is the current president of BYU-Idaho.  He talked of a meeting he was in where a young married student asked Elder Richard G.Scott about having children, expressing concern that she wasn’t sure if it was right to bring children into this wicked world. 

He answered with two questions:  continue reading...

Ian Christopher has arrived! He was born in St. Luke’s Hospital in downtown Boise, Idaho on Friday, January 16 at 2:02pm. He weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces and was 20 inches long. YEAH! (Don’t read on unless you want the details of labor.)

After being dilated to almost 4 cm and over 80% effaced for a week I decided to be induced before the holiday weekend so my doctor (Bryan Hodges) would be available to deliver him. My due date was just four days later.

He broke my water first to see if we could get labor started, but after a couple hours of walking, standing, hot tubbing, and sitting on the birthing ball in different positions, nothing happened so at 11:00am the nurse started a Pitocin drip. I was feeling contractions within 15 minutes and 3 hours later he was born. With Corey’s help as an amazing Labor coach I was able to do it again un-medicated.

The last part was really tough, but when Dr. Hodges let me finish pulling Ian out and rest his warm body on my stomach, it was all worth it. Being allowed to partner with God to give birth is such an amazing experience. When you consider all of the things that could go wrong, but don’t...it truly is a miracle. continue reading...

Are we crazy? I know many have thought that we might be when we told them we were expecting another little one. We already have four other healthy, beautiful, amazing children (okay I’m a little biased) that are still fairly young and close in age. After all, isn’t four kids the new Mormon eight? But for some reason, for us it was the right thing to do. As much as I wanted to be done having kids after Jenna, I couldn’t make myself give things away or completely close that door. I determined that we couldn’t make an unbiased decision until Jenna was at least two years old. continue reading...